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Topic: F4 G Phantom II (Read 13375 times)

About a 15 years ago I got this model on real barging on one show in the Czech Republic, the box was with Aires cockpit, Eduard PE and maskCouldn't resist, I just love the rhino so I got it and didn't really know what to do with it, didn't like the painting......However during the years I never give up on it, when I saw something related to the F-4 i got it, so I got a really almost everything that can be found out there on the market, maybe the one thing I don't have is the vacuum cockpit......... But still no painting that I like, but sometimes when I got some free time I searched the internet and suddenly I find it ! It was love at the first sight !

Beside the internet I got some literature as well I will return on this subject as the build go by.... At the end I got the Hi decal line decal sheet, they provide the matching shark mouth and Afterburner Decal sheet for the F-16 will by used for numbers

Well, during a day and a half I made more progress on this one than in one month time on the Tornado.... That says a lot, doesn't it ?

However, the books of Eagle Aviation Phantom Under The Skin Vol.1 and Vol.2 by Iaonis Lekkas & Ilias Gkonis are amazing, actually you can do anything you want, pictures are really under the skin, everything is shown with excellent pictures and it can be seen that modeler made them, no hidden areas at all, everything shown is from more angles and no " black spots " of any of them....... I contacted Mr. Lekkas with the question can I post some pictures from the book to show you what I'm talking about, sorry to say no respond yet.....

The basic idea of this project is to make a diorama, fuel system will be seen and both seats ( Eduard's Brassin seats are models for them selves so the diserve to be taken out of the cockpit and to bee seen separately ) and I will make both engines taken out, so the fuselage will be open and the engine bays will be seen as well. A big project no doubt, the biggest I ever done.

First step was to mark the areas that will be cuted out, after I cut them out. Aires gives the Electronic bays but after looking in the book I find out it is actually an Air Conditioning unit. The right is installed and looks good, fits in nice, after finishing I made the lost details right away, didn't want to leave it for later on, better this way I think.

And the start of the fuel system, first step was to made the " channel " which goes in to the fuselage,details and pipes are the next step.

I was on some training in the firm but the trainer was late for an hour or so so I made some scatches of how diorama will look with some basic hangar construction but this will most probably change during the build....

The basic construction of the fuel system is more or less done, dry fitted in to the fuselage, still hoses, pipes, cables to be made but before that I have a lot more to do, the next step will be the cockpit, the fuel system can be installed only after ccokpit and intakes...... And the music choice for this one

And the intakes. I started with the left side, you can see the difference, I had to make some corrections on resin intake, True Details gives the first row of the blades to simulate the engine, but like I sad, the engines will be out so this part had to be removed only pure intake channel to be visible, and some heavy surgery on the fuselage as well

The cockpit. This is maybe the best Aires product I ever seen, sharp details, much of them, an excellent set must say. Now, I have seats from Aires and Eduard Brasssin and both are very good looking so don't know yet what will be, Aires, Brassin or combination of these.....Time will tell..... First step was to remove the seat positioning blocks in the cockpit and replace the floor panel, the front cockpit is detailed up, only a few more springs and wires but more or less that is it, time to move to the rear cockpit section